Natsume To Publish Harvest Moon Creator’s New Game

Harvest Moon creator, Yasuhiro Wada, now has a company of his own, named Toybox Inc. While Wada himself plays all sorts of games from Diablo to Skyrim, the kinds of games he likes to make are the ones that he feels can bring joy to people. Thus, Toybox’s goal is to create games “for love, peace and earth”.

If you know Wada’s habits as a game designer, you likely won’t be surprised by the name of his new game—Project Happiness. That isn’t the game’s final title, but it’s what publishers, Natsume and Rising Star, are using for the time being. Yes, Natsume will publish Toybox’s first major game, and the title will be at E3. Today, they shared over Twitter:

“Natsume Inc., alongside TOYBOX and Rising Star Games, is pleased to announce Project Happiness (official title pending). Developed by Yasuhiro Wada, the father of Harvest Moon, at his TOYBOX Studio in Japan, Project Happiness will warm the hearts of gamers. Wada-san and Natsume will host behind-closed doors meetings to reveal the first details of Project Happiness at E3 in just 6 days!”

When we spoke to Wada earlier in the year, he told us: “I feel the world needs games that emotionally move people and give them the strength to live another day, and games that you would have fun talking about with your friends and family.” You can read more of his thoughts in our last interview with him.

We’ll have further details on Project Happiness once Wada and Natsume have more to say about the game at E3.

Either way, I’m looking forward to some details. I loved Harvest Moon 64.

http://www.facebook.com/alwaysbored.andrade Jonathan Andrade

Given the lack of platform announcement I’m willing to guess it’s for Wii U.

And man, Natsume has some troll timing. They teased a new game that took 9 hints before it removed Medabots, and announced their Harvest Moon title the day before Medarot 7 was unveiled. The same day Medarot 7 is unveiled they tease a new project, but of course more Harvest Moon related stuff.

puchinri

What is the other HM related stuff? 0o0

SirRichard

Honestly the industry needs more games and developers like this, and I’m glad we’ll actually be able to see it at E3. Definitely something to look out for!

With all the talk of happiness and talking about it with your friends and family, I’m willing to bet it’s going to be on a Nintendo platform, probably leaning towards 3DS or a small Wii U game.

Anesia Hunter

hopefully both with how the economy is and all. (things are getting hard to afford nowdays. ~.~)

riceisnice

You know what would make me happy? Rune Factory 4 coming to America without taking an entire year.

Juuu

In the current gaming climate, I think it’s nice to see a game with the goal of making the player “feel good.” We have so many heavy RPGs, or FPS titles where the pervading mood is annoyance at other players online, and gloomy gritty-realism aesthetic prevails this gen. Of course, that’s not a bad thing, but it’s nice to see developers aiming to provide an alternative to break up the monotony and give us something different. :] That’s why I like games like Harvest Moon, or the Atelier series so much-they’re just a joy to play and experience.

Looking forwards to the announcement! :D I actually hope it’s multiplatform so less people are left out, and so there’s less complaining, heh.

puchinri

I remember that interview quite well and definitely agree with him. And this is great news. Natsume’s publishing/localizing can be kind of. . . not subpar, but ya know, but I appreciate what niche titles they bring to us. I’m really thankful that they’ll be publishing this too! I can’t wait to hear more details about Wada’s game.

Strain42

A while back, I read that interview, and I posted a comment that was something along the lines of “Who else plans on picking up their first title just based on this?” …and I stand by that. I’m really excited to see this game be revealed. I wana learn more about it.

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